Heart Safe news: Our weekly update on what’s happening in the world of heart safety and noninvasive cardiology

Vital signs: Tracking heart rate over time can alert doctors to health issues

An elevated resting heart rate is cause for concern if it persists over time, according to a recent heart rate study from the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The study, published last month in the European Heart Journal, followed more than 9,000 patients. It suggests that heart pulse rate, measured with a simple vital signs test done routinely at a physician’s office, yields important information that can be used to diagnose heart problems and get people timely treatment.

“This study suggests that physicians need to track the pattern over a number of years, not just consider single readings,” the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Peter Okin, said.

A heart rate of 84 beats per minute or greater that either developed or persisted in patients during the study’s average five-year time span was linked to a 55 percent greater risk of cardiovascular death and a 79 percent greater risk of death from all causes. Participants had hypertension, but the scientists adjusted for this and other cardiovascular risk factors. A healthy heart rate is between 60 and 80 beats per minute.

Even incremental increases in heart rate were associated with increased risk of death. For example, every extra 10 beats per minute higher than a normal resting pulse was associated with a 16 percent increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 25 percent greater risk of all-cause death.

The patients in the study who died did so from a variety of causes, but considering all factors, “heart rate remains a significant predictor of increased mortality,” Dr. Okin said. “In addition to high blood pressure, this study demonstrated that changing heart rate over time is a highly significant predictor of mortality.”

Madison County SAVES: Public Access to Defibrillation program has placed 81 AEDs

Golf outing benefits Madison County SAVES and the Madison County Sexual Assault Treatment Center. (Bottom row, l–r: Holly Renz, RN, Madison County SAVES Coordinator and Madison County Sexual Assault Treatment Center (MCSATC) Program Director, Lori Wilson, RN, CHA ED and MCSATC Pediatric Coordinator, Joni Brinkman, MSN, RN, Emergency Department Director, Robert Washington, CHA Emergency Dept. Tech. Back row: Linda West, CHA Foundation, Executive Assistant, Dustin Osborne, CHA Emergency Dept. Tech, Allison Wilson, RN, CHA ED, Aaron Wilson, RN, CHA ED, Kiely Rector, RN, CHA ED, Missy Coffman, RN, CHA ED.)

Madison County SAVES was established in 2002 by Community Hospital Foundation in Anderson, Indiana, to support the region’s emergency services programs. Its Public Access to Defibrillation (PAD) program has placed 81 Powerheart automated external defibrillators (AEDs) throughout the community — a heart safety network that has already saved a life.

Madison County SAVES receives support from private donors and from organizations like the Community Hospital Emergency Department. This year, SAVES was a beneficiary (along with the Madison County Sexual Assault Treatment Center) of the emergency department’s 8th annual golf tournament fundraiser. Thirty-four teams participated in the golf outing.

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Last 5 posts

• Cardiac Science AEDs in Spain [VIDEO] - April 4th, 2011
• Cardiac Science wins first major public access defibrillation program in Europe - March 30th, 2011
• Georgia Park saves 5 lives with AEDs - March 24th, 2011
• Sad stories, avoidable deaths? - March 23rd, 2011
• Texas school's AED saves 6-year-old's life - March 22nd, 2011

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